The Washington region is being hit by another major snow storm which will probably exceed the snow of December 19, 2009 that forced President Obama to leave the global warming conference in Copenhagen early. This is the first time since record keeping started (before 1880) that two storms of such magnitude have hit the region during one winter. Already some localities are reporting the largest snowfall ever recorded. Blizzard conditions have been declared for the city of Washington, DC. Mail service was stopped. The weight of the snow caused the roof of the Dulles Jet Center to collapse. The Center houses mostly private jets at Dulles Airport. Amazingly, no injuries have been reported.

Although events such as these do not “prove” or “disprove” human caused global warming, this may be an appropriate time to review the science US EPA used to justify its finding that human emissions of carbon dioxide endanger public health and welfare. Organizations, including SEPP, are preparing petitions to EPA requesting reconsideration of this finding.

In the Federal Register, EPA states

“Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global average sea level.

… Global mean surface temperature was higher during the last few decades of the 20th century than during any comparable period during the preceding four centuries.”

SEPP comment: Widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global average sea levels are not physical evidence of anthropogenic global warming. These physical events started 18,000 years ago, when global warming started melting of the snow and ice of the great ice sheets covering large parts of the Northern Hemisphere, including Canada, the United States, and Eurasia, long before human emissions of carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels.

EPA justifies its claim of unequivocal warming in the last few decades of the 20th Century by stating:

“The global surface temperature record relies on three major global temperature datasets, developed by NOAA, NASA, and the United Kingdom’s Hadley Center. All three show an unambiguous warming trend over the last 100 years, with the greatest warming occurring over the past 30 years.” (emphasis added)

SEPP comment: As readers of TWTW realize, improper treatment of the three major global surface temperature datasets by NOAA, NASA and Hadley Center – CRU make EPA’s claim of warming trends scientifically indefensible. The datasets have been thoroughly compromised and likely have warming biases of an unknown magnitude. Further, in spite of frequent requests, these datasets have not been released for independent review and verification. Thus, the public comment process has been thwarted without any established need for such secrecy.

EPA ignores the satellite data reported by University of Alabama, Huntsville, which is available for independent review and verification. This dataset meets the critical principle of science of repeated, independent verification. These data over thirty years show modest warming trends in the middle to upper latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, little warming of the tropics and the Southern Hemisphere, and distinct cooling of the Antarctic region – hardly the unequivocal warming proclaimed by EPA.

[Note: This is another of a series of mini-editorials on the “junk science” influencing the global warming issue. Other topics will include the UN Environmental Program, and some individuals heavily involved in these matters.]

Junkscience #8: The “warmest year, decade, century” game

A NASA press release claims that “January 2000 to December 2009 was the warmest decade on record,” citing James Hansen and Gavin Schmidt (of NASA-GISS). They are practicing what magicians call “misdirection,” designed to mislead the unsuspecting reader. Let me explain:

Let us grant that the past decade was the “warmest on record.” What exactly does this prove? Since the warming trend started well before the release of substantial amounts of greenhouse gases, the most likely cause is simply a natural recovery of the global climate from the Little Ice Age, which historical records place between around 1400 and 1800 AD. And since we are still well below the temperatures seen during the Medieval Climate Optimum (when Norsemen were able to grow crops and raise cattle in Greenland), we will likely experience even warmer decades during the 21st century. But this is a pure guess; we still don’t understand what controls millennial climate cycles of warming – and cooling.

However, the data do not support a human influence on climate. Temperatures have not warmed (i.e., shown an upward trend) during the past decade — in spite of sharply rising levels of atmospheric CO2. The confusion comes about when people mix up temperature level (measured in deg C) with temperature trend (measured in deg C per decade). They are entirely different concepts. We currently have a record temperature level but no upward trend — and possibly even a slight cooling.

“The Indian government has established its own body to monitor the effects of global warming because it “cannot rely” on the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the group headed by its own leading scientist Dr R.K Pachauri.”

“A close reading of the hacked emails exposes the real process of science, its jealousies and tribalism.” The claim is outrageous, but illustrates the damage that unscrupulous actions by a few scientists are creating for scientists in general.

Climategate: confusion over the law in email case

The Information Commission claims it is powerless to bring charges over the Climate Research Unit ‘conspiracy’

The 2007 IPCC Report added the area subject to flooding to the area below sea level. “In fact, just 20 percent of the country consists of polders that are pumped dry, and which are at risk of flooding if global warming causes rising sea levels. Dutch Environment Minister Jacqueline Cramer has ordered a thorough investigation into the quality of the climate reports which she uses to base her policies on.”

“Some critics noted that the EPA’s own documentation on the biofuels standards issued Wednesday acknowledged that higher ethanol use could worsen smog in some regions and cause ‘245 cases of adult premature mortality.'”

“The administration established an interagency task force to come up with a plan to bring about, by 2016, the construction of five to 10 commercial-size coal plants that would capture and store carbon-dioxide emissions.”

“For this year, Congress had set a target of 100 million gallons of ethanol made from cellulosic raw materials such as switchgrass, corn cobs or wood chips. But the EPA said Wednesday that cellulosic production will amount to 6.5 million gallons, equal to a few pilot projects.”